As director of the Albany Law Clinic & Justice Center and its Immigration Law Clinic,
Professor Sarah Rogerson is making an impact in the community and on her students.

Her hard work was recognized Oct. 26 at The Legal Aid Society’s 2016 Pro Bono Publico Awards in New York City. The award, given for outstanding service to The Legal Aid Society and its clients, was presented by New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.

The ceremony is held annually to recognize individuals and organizations that participate in The Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Program by providing exceptional legal services to low-income New Yorkers. Immigration Law Clinic Fellow Mary Armistead ’14 also received an award.

Professor Rogerson oversees Albany Law School’s
Law Clinic & Justice Center, an in-house public interest law firm that provides free legal services to eligible clients in the Capital Region. As director of the
Immigration Law Clinic, she supervises and trains law students who provide direct representation to both detained and non-detained immigrants, including immigrant victims of domestic violence, intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Cases include special immigrant juveniles, applications under the Violence Against Women Act, representation of victims of violent crime in U-Visa applications, adjustment applications, bond applications, and other claims for immigration relief.

Professor Rogerson regularly collaborates with a large number of legal service providers in the community, both upstate and in New York City, to engage students in policy projects, to stay on top of best practices and to contribute to white papers.

As part of her service to the community, Professor Rogerson dedicates additional time to serving on committees and working groups that improve access to justice. In June, she was appointed to the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Children and the Law. She is also co-leading a collaborative research project with the University at Albany to develop a prioritized human rights research agenda.

Professor Rogerson has been busy on the scholarship front, too. Her latest article, ”The Politics of Fear: Unaccompanied Immigrant Children and the Case of the Southern Border” (61
Villanova Law Review, forthcoming), focuses on the thousands of Central American children fleeing to the Mexico-U.S. border, Constitutional protections afforded to them, and “how politicians and government officials have consistently responded to those [humanitarian and pragmatic] concerns with fear-based rhetoric.”

Professor Rogerson joined the Albany Law School faculty after a Clinical Teaching Fellowship at University of Baltimore School of Law, where she taught and supervised students enrolled in the Immigrant Rights Clinic. Before that she represented immigrant adults and children in cases involving torture, domestic violence, human trafficking and guardianship petitions at the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc., in both state and federal courts. Professor Rogerson also spent several years as a litigation associate practicing federal and state law in New York and New Jersey.

She earned her B.A. at Hillsdale College, M.A. and J.D. at Seton Hall, and LL.M. at Southern Methodist University.